Greenberg Traurig’s Financial Regulatory and Compliance Group brings together attorneys from various offices and practice areas to assist financial services firms of all types and sizes as well as vendors to those firms as they face regulatory, legislative, supervision, examination, licensing, compliance, and governance matters.

The breadth and depth of our experience, coupled with our regional and international diversity, positions us to collaborate across practices and geographies to deliver the quality service and value that financial services clients require in today’s world.

Greenberg Traurig’s Financial Services Observer monitors and reports on news, legal developments, litigation, and legislative actions affecting the financial services industry. Written by members of Greenberg Traurig’s Financial Regulatory and Compliance Group, this blog is designed to help in-house counsel and industry executives stay abreast of major developments affecting their industry. We hope this blog helps financial institutions and their legal and compliance teams navigate the evolving landscape of the financial services industry.

Bank Regulation and Compliance

Our global team of attorneys provides clients with strategic planning, analysis, and interpretation of legislation, amendments, and administrative rules governing the financial services industry. We counsel regulated financial institutions (and their officers and directors) in connection with critical examination reports and enforcement actions relating to capital, asset quality, management, compliance, and other issues.

We regularly advise clients in connection with federal and state banking laws and regulations, such as:

With offices in government hubs, we consult regularly with staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory (FINRA), the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and state financial institution and securities agencies to efficiently provide our clients with practical solutions to their legal and regulatory issues.

Broker-Dealer Regulation and Compliance

Greenberg Traurig counsels broker-dealers, investment advisers, municipal securities dealers, and municipal advisors in a wide range of regulatory and compliance matters, including Dodd-Frank and JOBS Act issues and Exchange Act issues, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), and pay-to-play business restrictions just to name a few. We also conduct internal investigations and full-scale compliance reviews. We work closely with our broker-dealer clients to develop and update their compliance programs, as well as their anti-money laundering and internal control policies and procedures.

We also work closely with the firm’s financial services and securities litigation and white collar teams to help our clients avoid unwarranted regulatory scrutiny and enforcement, and to defend when investigations or actions are brought by the SEC, the Department of Justice, the states’ Attorneys General, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), FINRA, New York Stock Exchange, and other regulators and litigants involving:

Greenberg Traurig’s Consumer Finance Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement team brings together attorneys from various offices and practice areas to assist financial services firms of all types and sizes as well as vendors to those firms as they face regulatory, legislative, supervision, examination, licensing and compliance matters.

Our regional and practice diversity enables us to collaborate across practices and geographies to deliver clients the service and value that they require in today’s world.

Federal and state regulation of consumer credit and other financial services

Advising on the scope of prohibition against unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices

CFPB and state supervisory examinations

Civil investigative demands

Compliance management reviews and audits

Defense in CFPB and state enforcement actions

Defense of consumer class action and individual litigation

Electronic lending

Interpretation and application of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act and the federal consumer financial laws

Participation in CFPB rulemakings

Privacy and information security

Product development, implementation, and maintenance

Understanding the legal status, organizational structure, and operational authorities of the CFPB, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other governmental agencies

We represent financial service providers such as:

Residential mortgage lending and servicing

Small-dollar/short-term lending

Automotive, boat, and manufactured housing indirect lending

Credit, debit, and prepaid card issuance, and payment system processing and operations

Military lending

Our team consists of veteran consumer finance attorneys with decades of combined experience helping clients to navigate a dynamic and complex regulatory landscape as well as a former senior CFPB attorney. We closely monitor the CFPB's activities in carrying out Dodd Frank’s mandate to implement and enforce federal consumer financial law. The CFPB’s expansive rulemaking agenda and rapidly evolving enforcement priorities have an almost daily impact on clients across multiple industries. Our team not only advises clients on compliance with existing regulations and responding to enforcement actions, but also assists clients in identifying important rulemaking initiatives and emerging enforcement trends.

Our attorneys are committed to assisting clients and businesses of all types and sizes with the services they require. Our clients in the consumer finance sector who are affected by CFPB include:

Our team is experienced in the formation and licensing of financial institutions of all types, as well as their expansion, merger, acquisition, and divestment before the OCC, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC, FINRA, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), National Futures Association (NFA), and key state supervisory authorities.

Futures and Derivatives Regulatory and Compliance

Our team assists its futures and derivatives clients in navigating the complex statutory and regulatory web that governs their business. We represent futures commission merchants, forex firms, proprietary trading firms, exchanges, and introducing brokers in connection with all aspects of their business, from formation and offering, to ongoing regulatory and compliance advice, to assistance with regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, and litigation.

Investment Adviser and Asset Manager Compliance

Our team represents private investment funds on formation and offering matters for domestic and offshore funds, mergers and acquisitions, securities regulation, SEC and state investment adviser registration and exemptions, the development and implementation of Advisers Act compliance programs and procedures, ongoing compliance matters, mock audits, and regulatory examinations.

Mortgage Lending and Servicing Regulation

We work with mortgage lenders and servicers to ensure compliance with the relevant federal and state laws impacting residential and commercial mortgage finance, securitization, and servicing. We advise clients in the mortgage industry on regulation, examination, compliance, and supervision matters regarding various federal and state laws.

Unclaimed Property

Greenberg Traurig’s Unclaimed Property and Escheat Practice Group offers clients a multidisciplinary approach to unclaimed property/escheat matters. We regularly advise banks, broker-dealers, funds, and other companies in the financial services industry in connection with regulatory inquiries or audits inquiries concerning unclaimed or abandoned property. We have also assisted such clients in refining their processes, procedures, and reporting requirements relative to unclaimed property; in negotiating settlements; and in recovering unclaimed property that belongs to the financial institution.